KEVON FELMINE

Se­nior Re­porter

kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt

The Na­tion­al Trade Union Cen­tre (NATUC) and the Joint Trade Union Move­ment (JTUM) be­lieve Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar can up­hold her promise to pre­serve and ex­pand pub­lic sec­tor jobs.

But while the labour move­ment wel­comed her an­nounce­ment, the Em­ploy­ers Con­sul­ta­tive As­so­ci­a­tion (ECA) of­fered cau­tious sup­port to the state’s abil­i­ty to fi­nance both the cre­ation of new jobs and the con­ver­sion of con­tract work in­to per­ma­nent ones.

With an es­ti­mat­ed $19 bil­lion an­nu­al pub­lic sec­tor wage bill, rep­re­sent­ing 10.2 per cent of GDP, Per­sad-Bisses­sar as­sured on Wednes­day that she would do all she could to pro­tect pub­lic ser­vice em­ploy­ment. Her com­ments fol­lowed claims by for­mer fi­nance min­is­ter Colm Im­bert, who al­leged that the Gov­ern­ment had ex­haust­ed its funds and was di­vert­ing in­fra­struc­ture al­lo­ca­tions to meet salaries.

The Prime Min­is­ter said re­trench­ment fears would be ad­dressed by phas­ing out high-cost con­tract labour and fill­ing thou­sands of va­can­cies, with sav­ings redi­rect­ed to fund per­ma­nent hir­ing.

NATUC Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Michael An­nisette wel­comed the move, say­ing it marked a step to­wards em­ploy­ment sta­bil­i­ty.

“Is in­fra­struc­ture more im­por­tant than bread and but­ter?” he asked, chal­leng­ing Im­bert’s crit­i­cism and stress­ing that liveli­hoods must be pro­tect­ed even dur­ing fi­nan­cial strain.

He said the for­mer Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment ad­min­is­tra­tion had not pri­ori­tised work­ers, de­lib­er­ate­ly re­press­ing wage in­creas­es and leav­ing many em­ploy­ees on 2012/2013 salaries. Un­der that gov­ern­ment, wage of­fers ranged be­tween two and five per cent.

An­nisette added that the new ad­min­is­tra­tion must build an econ­o­my led by de­cent jobs and fair wages, as work­ers are both pro­duc­ers and con­sumers of goods and ser­vices. He warned that if jobs were re­pressed and hir­ing was most­ly on con­tract, there would be no ben­e­fit for work­ers, so­cial jus­tice, or eq­ui­ty.

For con­tract staff, NATUC’s con­cern is that many face in­se­cure con­di­tions, with no sick leave or hol­i­days in some cas­es. An­nisette said those with the nec­es­sary skills must be of­fered per­ma­nent em­ploy­ment.

“We can­not build a coun­try and econ­o­my and talk about so­cial jus­tice, eq­ui­ty, and equal­i­ty when just a few peo­ple ben­e­fit and the vast ma­jor­i­ty are made to make the ul­ti­mate eco­nom­ic and fi­nan­cial sac­ri­fice. No econ­o­my can grow in that way, and that is the state­ment of NATUC. We sup­port what the present gov­ern­ment is do­ing.”

He not­ed that de­spite fi­nan­cial con­straints, the Port Au­thor­i­ty had the ca­pac­i­ty to raise wages by 12 per cent, and the Na­tion­al In­sur­ance Board by nine per cent, but both were blocked by the for­mer ad­min­is­tra­tion.

JTUM Gen­er­al Sec­re­tary Ozzi War­wick al­so en­dorsed the gov­ern­ment’s plan, in­sist­ing pub­lic ser­vants de­serve sta­ble jobs and not month-to-month con­tracts. He wel­comed the promise of wage in­creas­es along­side se­cu­ri­ty of tenure.

“We be­lieve this is a more sus­tain­able ef­fort to en­sure eco­nom­ic growth. JTUM is of the view that wage-led growth is more sus­tain­able and will bet­ter ad­dress in­equal­i­ty and in­equity in so­ci­ety. Such an ap­proach will en­able cit­i­zens to bet­ter par­tic­i­pate in the econ­o­my, there­by grow­ing our econ­o­my in such a way that it re­sults in an im­prove­ment in the ma­te­r­i­al con­di­tions and qual­i­ty of life of our hard-work­ing cit­i­zens,” War­wick said.

ECA Chair­man Ke­ston Nan­coo said per­ma­nent em­ploy­ment car­ries heav­ier oblig­a­tions than con­tract work, in­clud­ing pen­sions, and would in­crease the state’s fixed costs.

Still, he was pre­pared to give Per­sad-Bisses­sar the ben­e­fit of the doubt.

“It is go­ing to chal­lenge the re­al­i­ty of the eco­nom­ic sit­u­a­tion, and this is why I start­ed off by say­ing if the Prime Min­is­ter, who is the head of the gov­ern­ment, makes such a state­ment, I would like to first say it is a rea­son­able as­sump­tion that where it is com­ing from, there is va­lid­i­ty to it. It is not go­ing to be very long be­fore we see oth­er­wise. For a start, I would like to say that the ho­n­ourable Prime Min­is­ter must be prop­er­ly in­formed in or­der to make such a de­fin­i­tive state­ment,” Nan­coo said.